The two companies see their product portfolios as hugely complementary.

“Adding Metrum's portfolio of products to our existing offerings allows Aclara to provide a more comprehensive solution that will enable our existing customers – as well as new ones – to optimize the economics of their smart-grid deployment by balancing bandwidth requirements with cost,” said Brad Kitterman, the president of Aclara.

Steve Swenke, the chief executive of Metrum, echoed those sentiments.

“Aclara has an outstanding reputation for providing exceptional smart grid solutions to all three utility segments,” he said. “I believe the combination of Metrum's and Aclara's technology platforms will enable a best-in-class offering of cellular, RF and powerline communications technologies for our utility customers.”

ESCO’s move follows a similar acquisition last year by rival Itron (Liberty Lake, USA), which bought SmartSynch to beef up its cellular communications expertise.